The five-time speed skating Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein will take over as national coach in the discipline of Allround until the end of the year. The German Speed Skating and Short Track Community (DESG) announced this. Pechstein will hold the position alongside her current main role as a federal training center coach in Inzell. In addition, Andreas Kraus will now also be acting as the national coach for Sprint in addition to his main role as a youth coach.
“Both coaches have our full trust. The decision provides the association and German speed skating with planning security until the end of the year,” said DESG president and Pechstein’s husband Matthias Große. “By then, we will have enough time to conduct an orderly application process and decide on the coaches who will lead our athletes to the 2030 Olympics.”
The 54-year-old replaces Alexis Contin, who is expected to promote the development of the national team in his home country with a view to the 2030 Winter Games in France. Contin had unintentionally been at the center of attention at the Olympics in Milan after speed skater Fridtjof Petzold had denounced a strained relationship. DESG sports director Nadine Seidenglanz, Contin’s wife, dismissed the allegations. DESG had already gone four consecutive times without an Olympic medal. Pechstein ended her successful career last year.
Since the Olympics, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding DESG. At the start of the Winter Games in Italy, a “Sportschau” report about alleged irregularities at DESG and a strained relationship between some athletes and the association leadership had caused a stir. After the Olympics, the association leadership banned two ARD journalists from a media event, leading to heavy criticism. The DESG leadership denies the allegations.
